


Don't Let Me Go

by theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Acceptance, Almost Dying, F/M, Have no idea why I did this, One-Sided Attraction, Sozin's Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang, Terror, Unrequited Love, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 12:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5205326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs/pseuds/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"I don't think boomerang's coming back, Toph..." Sokka's voice broke. "It looks like this is the end..." </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Let Me Go

**Author's Note:**

> Years have passed and _yes_ , I still cannot get over this.

_"I don't think boomerang's coming back, Toph..." Sokka's voice broke. "It looks like this is the end..."_

Toph did not imagine death coming for her to be this way. In fact, she'd never really thought about dying at all. She believed in Aang so much that she knew it in her very bones that he would defeat the Phoenix King and save the world. He was her student, after all and failure was not an option.

_Don't let me go! Please!_

She remembers vaguely that one summer when a messenger suddenly appeared at the Bei Fong estate with an urgent message. She had been in the sitting room with her parents, listening to them read boring poetry to _'educate'_ Toph, hoping that they at least marry her to a rich aristocrat who would take her even with her impairment.

When the messenger came, her mother asked Toph to be led back to her room. She had obediently followed the servant girl but stayed behind to eavesdrop before the servant can look around and see that the Lady Bei Fong is not following her.

The messenger tells her parents that the cargo ship they sent out last week had been raided by a Fire Nation navy ship. Some men had died in the assault.

"You have to crack a few ostrich horse eggs to make rich omelet," her father regaled with no real sadness. "Very well, then. Compensate the families no more than necessary. We can't have them making claims against the family."

 _Sacrifices, huh,_ she unfeelingly thought. Like her family were willing to sacrifice Toph to anyone just to continue the family name and fortune. It was the same sentiments with war.

Her hands slipped further and Toph knew it was time to let go.

She felt the minute vibrations showing her flashes of Sokka's images through their fingers. She wouldn't have her death any other way. She won't taint the moment by giving him some sort of damned confession.

Still, the terror was nothing that Toph had ever felt before.

Fear, she could handle head on. She was the great Toph Bei Fong. She faced fear on a daily basis and conquered them each time. But this? This was absolute panic and raw screams building up her throat, threatening to drown her in despair and helplessness, making her whole body weak despite the adrenaline. Her ears are ringing and she feels her heart beat faster than it had ever done, desperate to keep her alive, to beat all the heartbeats to fulfill a lifetime's duty. (What a stupid, stupid heart.) It makes her feel out of breath even when she fights to keep her breathing steady. The panic was alive and overwhelming and the sheer feeling of _nothing_ anywhere made her insides squirm and her brain call out for anything, absolutely anything, for help.

There was no surviving this one. She would be dead long before she could sense the earth before the actual impact. With bare feet hanging in the air and only a flimsy tether, sweating and slipping, she knew she was gone. At least she wouldn't see her inevitable doom, she thought. The fall would undoubtedly be scary and she was half thankful for being blind and resolved not to scream.

Toph's tears flow without her permission and she lets them. For everything that life did to her, she deserved a few tears before she kicked the bucket.

 _Thanks, Sokka,_ she thinks. The words stuck in her throat as the panic rams against her chest wildly. She tries harder not to break for him, knowing full well that he was looking at her face.  _For everything. Don't you **dare** think this is your fault. You did your best. I'm not Yue all over again._

She swallows the words and steels herself to let go but her constant survival instincts refuse to.

Then there's a shift in the air, vibrations and sounds she couldn't make out and before she can asks what's going on, Sokka lets go.

**Author's Note:**

> THANK GOOD SPIRITS SHE DOESN'T DIE. I ALMOST LOVE SUKI FOR IT.


End file.
